by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n
As different as the four gospels are, all four of them put their greatest emphasis on the events of Jesus\u2019 death, burial, and resurrection. Before that point, their narratives take different paths and discuss different things. At that point, all of them focus on the garden, the cross, and the empty tomb.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/pressure-guage-300x300.jpg\")
However, even before the gospels come together, we can feel them beginning to converge. Jesus, even though He will be the innocent victim, is the one firmly in control of the situation, bringing the threads of history together. Indeed, even though Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are interested in different facets of the story, they all reveal Jesus doing the same thing: turning up the pressure on the chief priests.<\/p>\n
John 12:9-11 reports that the resurrected Lazarus was, not surprisingly, attracting tremendous attention from the crowds. In response, the Jewish leaders decide not to believe Jesus because of the miracle, but to try to kill the evidence of the miracle\u2014Lazarus\u2014in order to keep the people from believing.<\/p>\n
In Luke\u2019s account of the Triumphal Entry in Luke 19:37-38, the crowds are celebrating Jesus\u2019 entry as King into Jerusalem, using the words of Psalm 118:26. This is rebellion-against-the-Romans talk, so the Pharisees urge Jesus to quiet them. He refuses.<\/p>\n
In Mark 11:15-17, Jesus cleanses the temple, driving out all the animal sellers and moneychangers who were clogging the temple courts. Everyone in Jesus\u2019 day would have known who got a cut from all the commerce\u2014the chief priests. According to Matthew 21:14-17, in response to His miracles of healing, the crowds begin to hosanna Jesus as the Son of David\u2014more incitement to rebellion. The chief priests get angry and demand that Jesus shush them. Again, He refuses.<\/p>\n
In this context, our final reading for the week is unsurprising. The chief priests plot with Judas for Jesus to be betrayed into their hands.<\/p>\n
If they weren\u2019t so utterly corrupt and evil, it would be easy to feel sympathy for the Jewish leaders at this point. Jesus has them completely boxed in. His spectacular miracles have won over the crowds. Those same crowds are saying irresponsible things about Jesus as King, and Jesus is allowing them to continue. He is challenging their authority and showing them up as spiritual frauds. All of this is happening in the spiritually volatile atmosphere of the week before Passover, a holiday that celebrated the Jews\u2019 deliverance from a foreign oppressor.<\/p>\n
If the chief priests do nothing, the situation will spin out of their control swiftly. If they decide to back Jesus so that the whole nation rises against the Romans, they are convinced that the Romans will win and destroy them along with Jesus. The only solution that is left is to solve the problem by killing the man, the option they decide to take.<\/p>\n
We often think of the Jewish leaders as these devious, cunning plotters, and they were. However, all through the week before Jesus\u2019 death, we see them running scared, constantly thwarted in their attempts to restore order by Jesus. They are the rulers of the nation, but they aren\u2019t directing events. He is, and He is directing them toward a conclusion that nobody but God had even dreamed was possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew W. Bassford As different as the four gospels are, all four of them put their greatest emphasis on the events of Jesus\u2019 death, burial, and resurrection. Before that point, their narratives take different paths and discuss different things. At that point, all of them focus on the garden, the cross, and the empty…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-26287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-jesus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32812,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-there-only-one-gospel-when-we-have-four-gospels\/","url_meta":{"origin":26287,"position":0},"title":"Why is there only one gospel when we have four gospels?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm confused, if there is only one gospel why do so many people say the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Answer: The gospel is the good news preached concerning Jesus Christ and salvation. All of the New Testament is the gospel in this sense. See The Message\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19106,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-four-faces-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":26287,"position":1},"title":"What are the four faces of Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are the four faces of Jesus? And how are they related to the present-day church? Answer: The phrase is not used in the Bible, but it is how some modern writers refer to the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each gospel is addressed to a different\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-timeline-of-resurrection\/","url_meta":{"origin":26287,"position":2},"title":"The Timeline of the Resurrection","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Recently, I've become aware that there is this thing floating around on the Internet called \"The Easter Challenge\". The inventor of this challenge is an atheist. He asserts that the Biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus contradict each other so significantly that they are clearly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/IMG075-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":53407,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/matthew-was-written-for-the-jews-so-the-law-on-marriage-and-divorce-only-applies-to-the-jews\/","url_meta":{"origin":26287,"position":3},"title":"Matthew was written for the Jews, so the law on marriage and divorce only applies to the Jews","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was taught that you have to look at who's talking and who they are talking to. In Matthew 19, Jesus was talking to the Jews, and the Law of Moses was given to the Jews and not the Gentiles, even though Matthew is a New Testament book, so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-gospels-not-historical-because-they-are-theological-documents\/","url_meta":{"origin":26287,"position":4},"title":"Are the gospels not historical because they are theological documents?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. I just saw your study on Jesus being rejected at Nazareth after teaching in the synagogue. I am currently in a graduate-level course before I start my grad studies. I've been looking at your studies for quite some time since I became Christian, and I appreciate your loyalty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-words-of-jesus-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":26287,"position":5},"title":"The Words of Jesus (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: John 12:44-50 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I continue to be amazed at the lengths people will go to justify a belief. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps you have heard the story of Martin Luther\u2019s decision that James 2 did not belong in the sacred text because of one small phrase\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}